Brain Drained

Posted on 16/08/2010 by Jon Butterworth

This post also at the Guardian. See also Chapter 7.5 of Smashing Physics.

On Saturday I went to a leaving party for Lily Asquith of LHCSound fame. Lily was one of our PhD students on the ATLAS experiment at the LHC. Having graduated, she is now heading off to a postdoc position (also on ATLAS) at Argonne National Lab in the US.

Whether this is part of a brain drain due to Labour’s STFC cuts followed by coalition doom-and-gloom, or just part of the normal give-and-take of international research, we shall see.

The party reminded me of the almost trance-like state in which I began my first job as a postdoctoral researcher.

Explaining

“You see, this is what it is like in Chicago…”

I’d accepted a position with Penn State University. I had only a vague idea where this was, but that hardly seemed to matter, since they were a good university and wanted to pay me to live in Hamburg and do physics with the ZEUS experiment, which is what I wanted to do.

To get my J1 visa processed, I had to actually go to Penn State, however briefly. I was supposed to fly out a few days after the oral examination for my doctorate. Not wishing to take anything for granted, I had not booked my plane ticket, but was otherwise ready to go. My exam would be on the Thursday and I would fly out to the US the weekend after, assuming I passed.

Unfortunately, the Saturday before, my bag got stolen. In it were some brand-new M&S underpants, a very long scarf I had knitted myself, and my passport, including the J1 visa.

Continue reading →

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Scuffling over Prizes

Posted on 05/08/2010 by Jon Butterworth

This post is also available at The Guardian.

I have to say I think this is all a bit pathetic.

I had thought there were three contenders for a Nobel Prize when* the Higgs Boson is finally discovered. Peter Higgs, Brout and Engelert. Apparently there are six. This is a problem because the Nobel can only be shared three ways.

Three…

At ICHEP, the Tevatron Higgs speaker talked about the “BEHHGK” boson (all the relevant initials), since they all very recently received a prize from the American Physical Society. Then there was a storm of emails to the organisers of this workshop I attended because they did not credit Guralnik, Hagen and Kibble. Since two of the three are American (Kibble is British) I guess it’s easy enough to see why some US physicists might be agitated at this apparent failure to respect the verdict of the APS.

Note this argy-bargy sort-of-assumes the Higgs boson will be discovered, and additionally assumes that the prize won’t go to anyone involved in actually discovering it*.

The second of these is a pretty safe bet. Most Nobel prizes in particle physics go to theorists**.

I don’t think this is due to a theory cartel, it’s just that large experiments are enormously collaborative, or they don’t work. In fact there are many other theorists doing key calculations without which the experimental Higgs exclusion plots would not work either. Fortunately it’s possible to make a career in particle physics “simply” by making excellent and unique contributions to a fantastic discovery*. But it’s probably impossible to win a Nobel Prize that way. Continue reading →

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You say Tomaydo, je dis la Tomate

Posted on 31/07/2010 by Jon Butterworth

See also Chapter 3.4 of Smashing Physics.

Home again after the excitement of ICHEP, extensively blogged for the Guardian. No physics in this post; even I need a break from it.

A week of ICHEP was followed by a small add-on meeting at LAL Orsay, so I’ve spent best part of the last 10 days in Paris (one day was spent in Swindon, so I do mean the best part). I like Paris a lot, and my wife came out for the weekend in the middle, so even better. My hotel was pretty dumpy but functional, and since it served breakfast in a nicotine-stained dungeon, I went to a cafe every morning and by the end even the Parisian waiter became pally.

Liberty Bell. Bong…

The Colliding Particles crew (both of them) were around most of the time filming (in part also for the Guardian). They also came to the previous ICHEP, which was in 2008 in Philadelphia. One of my colleagues actually saw the Philadelphia film and thought it was made in Paris.

Of course Philadelphia and Paris are not so similar. We had a meal in a small bistro in Paris, seemingly off the beaten track but which presumably featured prominently in some key guidebook, since it turned out to be full of American couples plus children, all drinking water. I became so culturally disorientated I spilled my wine all over the table.

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Sarkozy and the Higgs

Posted on 27/07/2010 by Jon Butterworth

See also Chapter 3.4 of Smashing Physics.

A lot happened at ICHEP today, but I’ll stick to the presidential address and the Higgs.

Quick Higgs recap: we know that something gives particles mass. According to our best theory, known as the Standard Model, it is theHiggs boson. And if the model is true, then the Higgs’ own mass has to lie within a certain range.

President Sarkozy at ICHEP (Photo: Mike Paterson)

Ben Kilminster of Fermilab in the US presented the latest results on the search for the Higgs at their Tevatron collider.

See the Guardian Science blog for the rest of this post.

See here for English translation of Sarkozy’s speech.

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